Diet Orders

Section 330 Section 330.1940  Diet Orders a)         A current diet manual (printed or electronic) shall be available and in use (printed or electronic).  A manual shall be available to the food and nutrition services department in addition to the nursing department for use by physicians or dietitians when writing diet orders. b)         Physicians shall write a diet order for each resident indicating whether the resident is to have a general or a therapeutic diet.  The attending physician may delegate writing a diet order to the dietitian. 1)         The resident's diet order shall be included in the medical record. 2)         The diet shall be served as ordered. c)         A written diet order shall be sent to the food service department when each resident is admitted and each time that the resident's diet is changed.  Each change shall be ordered by the physician or dietitian.  The diet order shall include, at a minimum, the following information: name of resident, room and bed number, type of diet, consistency if other than regular consistency, date diet order is sent to the food service department, name of physician or dietitian ordering the diet, and the signature of the person transmitting the order to the food service department. d)         The resident shall be observed to determine acceptance of the diet, and these observations shall be recorded in the medical record. e)         The facility shall provide supervision for preparing and serving the therapeutic diets, obtaining consultation as needed from a dietitian. f)         A therapeutic diet means a diet ordered by the physician or dietitian as part of a treatment for a disease or clinical condition, to eliminate or decrease certain substances in the diet (e.g., sodium) or to increase certain substances in the diet (e.g., potassium), or to provide food in a form that the resident is able to eat (e.g., mechanically altered diet). g)         The kinds and variation of prescribed therapeutic diets shall be available in the kitchen.  If separate menus are not planned for each specific diet, diet information for each specific type, in a form easily understood by staff, shall be available in a convenient location in the kitchen. h)         All oral liquid diets shall be reviewed by a physician or dietitian every 48 hours.  Medical soft diets, sometimes known as transitional diets, shall be reviewed by a physician or dietitian every three weeks.  All other therapeutic and mechanically altered diets, including commercially prepared formulas that are in liquid form and blenderized liquid diets, shall be reviewed by a physician or dietitian as needed, or at least every three months.